| Jonathan Paton Memorial Trophy for Golf Croquet |
This tournament was played at the Johannesburg Country Club on Sunday 26th November. It was in memory of Jonathan Paton who died in
June 2006 and was responsible for many of the members of the Gauteng clubs becoming keen croquet players. Jonathan was Professor of
English Literature at the University of the Witwatersrand and an author in his own right besides being the son of the famous author Alan Paton.
Caption: Left to right: Margaret Paton, widow, David Paton, brother, Jo Meintjes and Mike Corcoran winners of the trophy.
For further information on where to play croquet please contact Paterson Park croquet club chairperson Jessie Janke on
011 642 9574 or email Jo Meintjes jo@jomeintjestravel.co.za. |
| Who says it never rains in Port Alfred! |
 |
| Photos from left top show Poppy, Val, Jill & Allan about to strip off.
The two bag men, Hoppy and Ellis in African style raingear. Anyone recognise Mary ? This group
looking rather pensive at the thought of going out to play but they are enjoying their gin & tonics!
The next two photos are of the unlucky ones trying to play croquet whilst the heavens opened. |
| 2006 National Championship Results |
The Championships were held at Port Alfred Bowls & Croquet Club who in keeping with past events produced
wonderful lunches each day. Thanks must go to Gail Griffiths who runs the local Highlander Pub, where the
prize-giving dinner was held. Gail donated a salver, known as the 'Highlander Salver' for the Association Croquet OHS 'Y' event. Gail is a
strong supporter of croquet in the Eastern Cape and we thank her very much for her support. There were several
illnesses and indeed broken bones, Tony Botha had cracked a couple
of ribs prior to the start of the tournament and tried to play but had to pull out. Hans van Noord slipped and
fell breaking an arm in the process so he was out for the rest of the tournament. Many others fell by the wayside
with stomach, bronchitis, knees and even prostate problems, Grahame Tomes had to leave after three days as he had
an emergency call to go off to China on business! Due to the dropouts many pairings had to be changed, with
Tony Botha unable to play David Boyd stepped in and played with Val Durie in the handicap doubles, his first game
of association croquet in a competition and they did very well. Jean Burnside was another who stepped in to play with
Peter Johnson, they did extremely well by winning their event.
Those of us that were left had a very enjoyable tournament
with the following bringing in the honours and Western Province winning the Inter-Provincial Trophy.
The WP team from the left, Peter Millson, Ellis Langeveld, Anne Oxton, Ken Wheeler and David Hopkins.
Association Croquet:
Open Singles: Carole Jackson, runner-up David Hopkins
Open Doubles: David Hopkins & Ken Wheeler, runners-up Carole Jackson & Peter Millson
OHS X: Carole Jackson, runner-up David Hopkins>
OHS Y: Hans van Noord, runner-up Allan Wilson
Handicap Doubles: Peter Millson & David Hopkins, runners-up Val Durie & David Boyd
Rest. H'cap Doubles: Correen Gie & Mary McGhie, runners-up Nolene Kirsten & Greta Snaith
Rest. H'cap Singles: David Paton, runner-up Penny Price
Vets H.cap Singles: Hans van Noord, runner-up David Paton
Golf Croquet:
Open Singles: David Hopkins, runner-up Peter Johnson
Open Doubles: Jean Burnside & Peter Johnson, runners-up Carole Jackson & Pat Erskine
Handicap Singles: David Boyd, runner-up Mary McGhie
Handicap Doubles: Carole Jackson & Pat Erskine, runners-up Anne & Peter Oxton
posted 15/11/2006) |
| South Africa Awarded 2008 Golf Croquet Championship |
|
It is with great pleasure and delight that our bid to host the 8th Golf Croquet World Championship has been
accepted by the World Croquet Federation.
Around 64 players from Australia, England, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, USA and Egypt, to name
but a few are expected to join us for an African experience, we look forward to witnessing some superb croquet.
Further details of the 8th WCF Golf Croquet World Championship will be released in due course.(posted 20/9/2006) |
| Two Springboks in the Camp! |
|
Carole Jackson who is on the WCF Management Committee has been joined by
Peter Millson who has been automatically elected to the WCF Golf Croquet Rules Committee following the
resignation of Peter Payne (Switzerland).
The WCF Golf Croquet Rules Committee, under the Chairmanship of Gordon Smith (New Zealand), has
already started to appraise the current version to consider possible additions or amendments for the future.
It is expected that the next version of the Rules will be published in January 2007. (posted 18/8/2006) |
| Passing of Jonathan Paton |
|
Jonathan had been ill for some time, was dependent on oxygen - which, being Jonathan, didn't stop him playing croquet,
he just carried the oxygen bottle round with him on a small trolley. A week before he collapsed he had been
to his doctor who had said that his lung function had improved 300%, and Jonathan was looking and sounding much improved.
The Friday after that he collapsed, and was taken into hospital in a coma. He had developed an infection (bronchitis, pneumonia?).
he regained consciousness on Saturday, but sadly passed away Sun evening / Monday morning.
The memorial service was held last Friday, with good representation from the croquet fraternity. (posted 3/6/2006) |
| National Championships 2006 |
|
Entry forms for the Nationals have been emailed to everyone who is known to be on email. Further copies will
be sent to the clubs within the next few weeks. The Nationals will take place from 20 October to 3 November
at Port Alfred Bowls & Croquet Club, Port Alfred. Association croquet will be played from 20 - 24, with an
Inter-Provincial taking place on the 25 and Golf croquet from 26 October to 3 November. If anyone would like
an entry form emailed to them please contact the webmaster. (posted 14/6/2006) |
| Barlow Trophy 2006 |
|
The Barlow Trophy was played at Country Club Johannesburg over the weekend of 10/11 June. There were
six entries although two did not turn up for the competition. John Rowlands emerged the winner with
John Hindle runner-up. This tournament was thoroughly enjoyed by those who played in it, so much so
that they are now keen to run a similar tournament on a monthly basis to improve their play also to
encourage competition. Many thanks to Hans van Noord who looked after the management of the tournament.
(posted 13/6/2006) |
| Eastern Cape 'Highlander' Championships 2006 |
We had an incredible 10 days of Croquet at the Port Alfred
Bowls & Croquet Club. The ninth annual EP Highlander Croquet Tournament started
on 2nd April with 3 days of Association Croquet followed by 7 days of Golf Croquet.
2 lawns were used for the Golf while the Association continued on the top lawn (Bowling Green, loaned to
us by the Club for the duration of the Tournament). There were 50 competitors in
total; 15 Association, 3 only playing Association & 47 Golf croqueteers, of which
12 played both Association & Golf. Many of the players who entered were playing in their first tournament
and represented nine of the fourteen clubs in South Africa, they learned very quickly that they had to be
on time and ready to play when called.
The climax of the whole Tournament were the Finals on 11th April. Photo shows the prizewinners from the left back row: Peter Oxton, Hans van Noord, Carole Jackson,
Bob Stephens, Barry Nichol, Penny Price, Peter Millson and David Boyd. Middle Row: Karen (Highlander sponsor)
Ellis Langeveld and front, Correen Gie (Port Alfred President) |
ASSOCIATION :
Open Singles : Carole Jackson Runner up : Hans van Noord
Open Doubles : Carole Jackson & Bob Stephens Runners up : Hans van Noord & Tony Botha
Handicap Singles : Hans van Noord Runner up : Penny Price
Handicap Doubles: Peter Millson & Penny Price Runners up : Barry & Dell Nichol
14 Point : Barry Nichol Runner up : Penny Price
GOLF :
Open Singles : Carole Jackson Runner up : Peter Millson
Open Doubles : David Boyd & Hans van Noord Runners up : Carole Jackson & Pat Erskine
Handicap Singles : Ellis Langeveld Runner up : Anne Oxton
Handicap Doubles : John Hedding & David Paton Runners up : David Boyd & Hans van Noord
Restricted Level Singles : Peter Oxton Runner up : Joanna Turpin
Wilson Trophy for the highest placed Port Alfred player : David Boyd
Flamingo Trophy for good fellowship : Ellis Langeveld (posted 16/4/06) |
| KZN Open and Handicap Tournament 2006 |
| The dates for this are Sunday or Monday 18/19 June to Friday or Saturday 23/24 June 2006.
The start and end dates depend on the number of entries received by 14 June. They are currently considering
including the KZN Golf Croquet Tournament to run simultaneously. For more information contact Drewan Bennett on
031 572-5022 or email him at drewan@discoverymail.co.za. (posted 30/3/06) |
| The Level Best 2006 |
| The top twelve Golf Croquet players in the country met at Somerset West to contest for the
fourth time the top Trophy for golf croquet in South Africa. Absent was David Hopkins who was playing in the
WCF Worlds in New Zealand but the two other winners of the trophy, William Louw and David Boyd were there along
with Meshack Mazibuko, Carole Jackson, Peter Millson, Victor Dladla, Grahame Tomes, Vernon Tomes, Peter Johnson,
Allan Wilson Barry Nichol and Hans van Noord.
It was a wonderful two days of golf croquet coming after a week
of golf and a week of association croquet. On the first day Carole beat amongst others, William Louw and
David Boyd, the two previous winners. She then came up against a rejuvinated Peter Millson, after having a nap
in his car over the lunch period and went down to him. The following day Carole managed not to falter and won
the rest of her matches, thereby winning the tournament with William Louw the runner-up. (posted 27/03/06) |
| Western Province Championships 2006 |
The Western Province Championships have a new champion this year. Lionel Tibble
on his first visit to play croquet in South Africa started the week very rusty but as the week developed
so did Lionel's play. He won his block convincingly, although he very nearly came unstuck against Carole
Jackson. In the other block Andrew Knox was hoping that Mike Town would do him a favour and beat Judith
Hanekom as he would then be the winner of the block, but not so, Judith went on to play Lionel in the Final.
In the open doubles Judith and Dave Mundy reigned victorious over Lionel and Henry Fellows. In the other
events Hans van Noord took the Restricted Singles, Bridget Evans the Handicap Singles, Mike Vialls the Benn
Cup for the second year.
Sarah Burrow won the big handicap much to Dave Mundy's annoyance, he was hoping to win it for a third or is
it a fourth time.
Elizabeth Medway won the Y with Sarah and Elizabeth taking the Handicap Doubles. Hans van Noord took the Veterans'
and Joyce Slawson the Scottish Salver.
In the Golf croquet played the following week, John Cammell excelled himself. He won his block, losing only
one match, in the semi final he played Vernon Tomes and beat him 9-6. He then went on to play Carole Jackson
in the final. The talk on the stoop was 'can he keep it up', he did, he won the first hoop then ran the second
hoop from 20 yards away. It was an excellent final with neither player giving an inch. When John ran the
final hoop his concentration was such that he didn't realise that he had won and the game was over!
In the photo are shown the 'local' Brits relishing their win in the annual Brits vs RCC. (posted 27/03/06) |
| False Bay Challenge - 'Penguins vs Whales' |
| The fourth False Bay Challenge took place at Fish Hoek Croquet Club on Sunday
26th February. The format of the tournament is that each club puts in a team consisting of four
players with only two players being allowed to be below a 2 handicap. Each team is then divided
into two, and is placed into one of two blocks, the Penguin block or the Whale block.
Play consists of five rounds of golf croquet doubles within each block. The two scores of each club
pairing is then added together at the end of the day to decide the winning club. If there is a tie,
as there was in 2005, then a centre peg shoot-out takes place. This year there was no need for this
as the Rondebosch team of Bridget Evans, Mike Hills, Anne Oxton and Carole Jackson clearly won it with
a combined total of 9 games and 67 hoops. Second was Kelvin Grove: Mike Vialls, Daphne Korpershoek,
Sylvia Gillett and Peter Oxton, with 7 games and 64 hoops, third was Fish Hoek 'B': Henrietta Heim
Lesley van Vliet, Charles Lowe and Joy Lowe with 5 games and 53 hoops. It was nice to see Lesley included
in the team as she has only been playing for seven weeks! (posted 27/02/06) |
| Dilys Hobbs Challenge Trophy |
| Played at Rondebosch the same weekend as the Riggall the 6 contestants had some
nail biting matches. Marcus Bizony, the eventual winner had not played much at all over the last
year and was seen as a bit of an outsider. Mel Brooks, who had lost to Marcus had all his hopes
pinned on Pieter de Vries beating Val Durie, which would enable him to be declared the winner as three
players would then be equal on games and net points would decide the winner. Sadly for him Val pulled out
all the stops and beat Pieter, with Marcus having beaten Mel, Marcus was declared the winner. Thanks
to Sylvia Shepherd and stalwart Jean Meredith for providing the lunches, one of the attractions for players
hoping to be invited to this tournament! (posted 13/01/06) |
| Riggall Gold Trophy |
Played over three days 10/11/12 February at Somerset West the contestants
had a most enjoyable tournament, if not a hot one. On Saturday the Cape Town temperature was
33 centigrade and in Somerset West it must have been more like 36! With no breeze to speak of
the water cooler in the clubhouse came into its own. We had the pleasure of having Meshack Mazibuko
and Victor Dladla from Gauteng who had been partly sponsored by SACA. Meshack is a nice relaxed
player who up until meeting William had not lost a game and was looking as though he could be a strong
contester for the trophy. Victor was hitting everything in site and was unlucky not to have a couple
more wins. We went into the third day with three
clear prospects, Carole who had only lost to her son Andrew by 2 and still had to play William
and Meshack, Meshack who had already lost to William and had Judith and Carole left and William
who had to play Carole and Judith. At the end of the day William came out the winner having won all
7 games, Meshack lost to Carole and with 5 wins each were declared equal 2nd place.
(posted 13/01/06) |
| Western Province 'Open Door' Tournament |
| This was played at Somerset Croquet Club on 12th and 13th January
2006. A top-class field of 12 players were invited to participate in a single block with
each match being contested with a single 19 point game. Showing early form was Grahame
Tomes who by lunchtime on the second day had not lost a game although his nearest rivals
Carole Jackson and David Hopkins had lost two games each. At this stage they were the
only players that still had to play him.
First up was Carole who managed to beat Grahame 10-7, it was then the turn of David who
also managed a 10-7 win. This left us with a three-way tie and it was agreed to play a
13 point round robin between the three players. Grahame had a rest round whilst Carole
and David battled it out with Carole the victor 7-4. Carole then went on to play Grahame
with Carole winning 7-5.
The Open Door Trophy was the brainchild of Neil and Carole Jackson, each Province has been given a
trophy for annual play in golf croquet and it is intended to be the feeder for invitations into the
Level Best, the National Golf Croquet Tournament contested for by the 12 best players in the
Country. |
Final positions were:
1st Carole Jackson 11 wins
= 2nd David Hopkins 9 wins
= 2nd Grahame Tomes 9 wins
4th Peter Millson 8 wins
= 5th Clare Stableford 6 wins
= 5th Peter Johnson 6 wins
= 5th The Lotz 6 wins
8th Ken Wheeler 5 wins
9th Anne Oxton 4 wins
10th Rex Davis 3 wins
11th Eve Ooshuizen 2 wins
12th John Moth 0 wins
(posted 14/01/06) |
| South Africa excels in World Golf Championships |
| Our five ladies playing in the World Golf Championships in Cairo
excelled themselves by making it through to the knock-out stage. To do this, they each
had to come in one of the top four positions in their respective blocks. Anne Oxton,
Clare Stableford and Val Armstrong each came third in their block, Val Durie came fourth
and Carole Jackson came first beating Samantha Curry the English No. 1 on the way.
The knock-out stages were so designed that a ranking position could be given to each
player. The finishing positions out of 50 were: Val Durie 32nd, Anne Oxton 21st, Clare Stableford
19th, Val Armstrong 17th and Carole Jackson 9th. For more information.
(posted 30/11/05) |
| Carole Jackson does the Triple! |
| Carole Jackson won the Open Singles, Open Doubles and
the Open Handicap Singles in the recently held National Association Championships in
Cape Town. The following week in the Golf Croquet Championships she narrowly missed
winning the Open Singles losing 7/6 to David Boyd from East London. More to follow.
(posted 6/11/05) |
| Sweet revenge for Robert Fulford, beating Reg
Bamford in the semi-finals of the 1st Egyptian Open Golf Croquet
Championships in Cairo, this last week. (posted 8/10/05) |
| The Eastern Cape "Highlander" tournament
will be played in Port Alfred from 2 to 11 April 2006. |
| The Annual General Meeting of the South African
Croquet Association will now take place after play at Kelvin Grove on Thursday 3
November. |
| Reg is World Champ! Reg beat
Robert Fulford in three straight sets at the World
Championships at Cheltenham in August, the scores were
26-17 tp, 26-0 stp, and 26-9 stp. |